This invention relates to a mobile lawn rake attachment fashioned for use with conventional riding lawn mowers or other suitable towing vehicles and, more particularly, to a rake attachment including a wheel frame support assembly, a rake tine assembly mounted for pivotal movement and having three substantially identical tine subassemblies adaptable to overlap each other at each end portion thereof wherein said three tine subassemblies may be constructed in varying arrangements relative to each other including having the center tine subassembly disposed aft of the two remaining tine subassemblies located on each adjacent side thereof in a trailing position thereto, and operator actuated means readily accessible from the seat of the towing vehicle for pivotally operating the rake tine assembly between an active raking position and an elevated dumping position.
It is well known that a great majority of individuals including homeowners, commercial establishments, and a wide variety of other institutional entities utilize motorized lawn mowers, garden tractors, and other suitable vehicles for easily and conveniently mowing the grass associated with both residential and commercial properties. The advantages associated with the use of such motorized lawn equipment and other home and agricultural implements relate primarily to a faster and more efficient means of performing and accomplishing the required task, be it mowing the grass or performing other associated lawn maintenance tasks, thereby decreasing the overall time involved in such as operation while, at the same time, requiring only a minimum expenditure of manual labor. With the advent of today's leisure society, motorized lawn equipment and related implements are becoming more and more popular than ever before.
Generally, the use of riding mowers and the like are associated with cutting and maintaining relatively large areas of grass and other foliage. Being fully motorized and self-propelled, leisure oriented users can cut and maintain large areas of grass and other ground covering foliage in a relatively short period of time and with little effort and fatigue. This is important to homeowners and other users, especially in today's fast moving society, where ever-increasing demands upon an individual's time leave little or no leisure time available for an individual's own relaxation, recreation, personal enjoyment and pleasure. Equally important to the users of such motorized lawn equipment is a relatively fast and efficient means for accomplishing the difficult task of gathering and removing the cut lawn clippings and other accumulated debris associated with proper lawn care maintenance. Because a great majority of grass and other foliage areas which are normally maintained by using the powered means of a riding mower or other similar vehicle are relatively large in acreage, hand raking becomes almost impossible, at least within a reasonable amount of time, even though hand raking is often times the only available means of accomplishing the raking task. Therefore, it is highly desirable to provide a simple, quick, and efficient means for both gathering and removing lawn clippings, accumulated leaves and the like so as to more effectively reduce the overall time required during a raking process, especially where the raking of a relatively large area is involved, thereby enabling additional activities, including increased leisure time.
Many different types of lawn rake assemblies and various types of mechanical sweepers are available and have been employed for use in raking a lawn or other area after a mowing operation in order to more effectively and efficiently accomplish the raking process and reduce the overall time associated therewith. The known prior art constructions for the most part are characterized by complicated and cumbersome mechanisms which include both conventional linkage and hydraulically actuated systems utilized for raising and lowering the rake tine assembly in its entirety. For example, the McCleskey U.S. Pat. No. 2,475,908 is designed to be connected to a tractor or other suitable vehicle having means associated therewith by which the rake can be readily lifted from an active ground contact position for the purpose of delivering materials accumulated thereby. The lifting mechanism employed to raise and lower the tines of the rake consist of a complicated mechanical linkage assembly which is substantially different from the present construction.
Berkley U.S. Pat. No. 2,645,891 discloses a power rake assembly which utilizes a hydraulically operated power system to actuate two identical extensible linkage mechanisms for pivotally operating the tine assembly. The disclosure of this patent relates primarily to a fluid actuated power means for raising and lowering the tine assembly in its entirety and as such is likewise substantially different from the present construction.
Kelly U.S. Pat. No. 2,648,946 discloses another hay rake assembly formed from a plurality of substantially identical sections that can be assembled on a supporting shaft to produce a rake of a width equal to the combined widths of any number of sections. Again, the rake tine assembly is raised and lowered through the media of a substantially complicated linkage mechanism.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,438,183 and 3,713,284 disclose still other raking mechanisms which are characterized by complicated linkage assemblies for manually raising and lowering a rake tine assembly or other implements, none of which disclose the principal constructional features of the present device.
Although the various mechanisms disclosed in the above-identified patents have attempted to improve and increase the efficiency, versatility, and mobility of various types of lawn rake assemblies and other implements, many disadvantages and shortcomings still exist. For example, the prior art constructions are relatively large, difficult and cumbersome to maneuver behind a towing vehicle and most known constructions provide no means whatsoever for adequately retaining the gathered debris within the boundaries of the rake tine area but allow such debris to easily and readily escape laterally therefrom as the debris accumulates therein. This is a typical problem associated with conventional raking mechanisms wherein debris is allowed to collect lengthwise along the entire rake assembly in a somewhat rectangular pattern such that the normal operation of the rake assembly during movement over a raking surface promotes lateral loss of such debris from each end portion thereof. This problem is accented during turns and other maneuvering of the rake assembly behind a towing vehicle and considerably reduces the overall efficiency of such devices. In addition, most prior art constructions utilize a substantially complicated conventional linkage mechanism for actuating movement of the rake tine assembly between a lowered raking position and a raised dumping position and most constructions do not provide easily accessible means which can be operated from the seat of a riding mower or other suitable towing vehicle for raising and lowering the rake tine assembly with respect to the ground. Additionally, most known raking mechanisms employ a single tine assembly of conventional width which cover a relatively small raking area when compared to the width of the present invention, thus suggesting additional time in accomplishing the raking task, especially where the raking of a large area is involved. For these and other reasons, the known constructions have not been entirely satisfactory and have enjoyed limited usefulness.
The present device overcomes these and other shortcomings and disadvantages of known prior art devices including the raking mechanisms disclosed in the named patents, and teaches the construction and operation of a relatively simple construction both structually and operationally which is also relatively inexpensive to make, use, repair and replace. The present device greatly facilitates and effectively decreases the overall time required for a raking operation and is especially advantageous for use in raking large areas of grass clippings, accumulated leaves, and/or other lawn related debris. In addition, the present device provides means for more efficiently gathering and retaining associated lawn debris within the confines of the rake tine assembly and enables the user thereof to deliver and dump a greater amount of accumulated debris as compared to known conventional raking mechanisms in convenient piles throughout the raking area or in one specific location for further facilitating the removal and disposal thereof. Additionally, the present device is lightweight, easy to attach to and detach from a conventional riding mower or other suitable vehicle, and can be easily and conveniently operated and manipulated by responsible users of varying ages.